At least three people were killed and several injured when an explosion hit the convoy of Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi who just arrived for a visit to the capital, according to reports reaching Nairobi from Mogadishu on Sunday.

Gedi escaped unharmed from the attacks shortly after he arrived in Mogadishu from the northern town of Jowhar, but the attacks left three dead instantly, while the wounded were rushed to a hospital.

In May, at least 15 people were killed in a Mogadishu stadium where Gedi was addressing a gathering on plans to reconcile the war-shattered nation.

The Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has been based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for the eight months since its formation, and only began relocating to Somalia on June 13.

The main bone of contention between the two rival factions in the TFG is where the returning administration should make its base, with president and prime minister preferring to settle the government in the southern town of Jowhar, due to security concerns.

Some powerful warlords insist that the transitional leader is barred by the federal charter, a sort of constitution, from transferring the capital away from bullet-scarred Mogadishu.

Somalia had no functional central authority for the 14 years following the collapse in 1991 of the government of Muhammad Siyad Barre. Civil war erupted in the Horn of Africa state soon after Barre was toppled as various factions and rival warlords fought for power.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2005)